


Don't Drink The Ale

by Northern_Lady



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Cuddles, Drunk Thor (Marvel), F/M, Hugs, Loneliness, No Smut, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Self Confidence Issues, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 11:07:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18659200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Lady/pseuds/Northern_Lady
Summary: Drunk Thor stumbles into the wrong bed.





	Don't Drink The Ale

It had been a harrowing day. The Guardians had been sent to rescue the kidnapped daughter of the Prime Minister of Lorel. She had been easy to locate but not easy to rescue. The battle had lasted for nine hours. Though they had rescued the girl in the end and gotten their payment, Nebula had needed a new arm and for the first time in a month Thor needed a drink. 

As soon as Nebula installed her new arm she had stumbled into her bunk on the ship and lay down, unwilling to talk to anyone for a while. She always disliked replacing parts of herself. It was not something any of the others would understand. 

Three hours passed and Nebula was woken from sleep by sounds of Thor drunkenly searching for his bunk. Instead of passing out in his own bunk like she expected he continued past his bed and stopped next to hers, all but collapsing next to her. Her first instinct was to simply shove him out of her bed onto the floor, and so she did. He hit the floor with a thud and then sat up slowly. 

“That was not very nice…” he said, his speech a little slurred. 

“You’re drunk. Go to your own bed,” Nebula told him. 

“So if I wasn’t drunk you’d be nicer?” he asked then didn’t bother to let her reply. “I only came here because I was worried about you.” 

“You were worried about me?” she wasn’t sure she believed that one. 

“I lost my hammer once…” he began. “It must be difficult to lose an arm…” 

“Yes,” she admitted then wished she hadn’t. “But I am fine. You should go to bed before you pass out on the floor.” 

Thor got to his feet with difficulty. He had lost a great deal of weight in the past month and his beard and hair were no longer the mess they had been when he joined the Guardians. He was too drunk to really stand steadily. He gazed it his bunk further down the row. “It’s too far.” And to her great horror he collapsed onto her bunk for the second time. 

Nebula seriously considered shoving him to the floor again but something stopped her from doing so right away. She soon regretted that decision as Thor turned to face her and did something she had not expected. He reached for her and pulled her into a firm hug. 

“What are you doing?” she was entirely confused about how to respond. Her body was stiff and her mind was reeling. Her hesitation to shove him away or insist that he leave was rooted in the fact that some part of her liked having him near. She had never been this close to a man she wasn’t trying to kill and it confused and angered her that she didn’t actually want him to leave. 

“I thought you could use a hug,” he said. Moments later he was snoring. 

Nebula let out a breath and allowed herself to relax. She had no further intentions of trying to make him leave. He could stay. She would stay awake for a while and imagine that this was what it was like to feel cared for. For most of her life no one had cared and even if they had cared they weren’t capable of helping her escape Thanos. She had never been able to picture herself as part of a family and with all her cybernetic parts had always known she’d never find romantic love. But maybe, just for one night she could pretend. She might never get the chance again. 

***

The first thing Thor noticed when he woke in the early morning was the slight pain in his head. The second thing he noticed was that he was not alone. The blankets were pulled up to his shoulders and he could feel that he had his arms around a woman but he could not see her face. He didn’t remember going to bed with a woman. He slowly pulled back the covers to find that it was Nebula and she was still fully clothed and asleep. Maybe he could leave her bed without her noticing. Except, he really didn’t want to leave. It was nice having her close. He woke up again hours later and Nebula was gone. 

He found her in the cockpit in her seat. He took his own seat. “Sleep well?” he asked her. 

“Well enough,” she replied. “And you?” 

“Just fine. Bit of headache. Too much to drink last night,” he told her honestly. 

Maybe she thought he had been too drunk to remember. If so, why had she allowed it to happen at all? Nebula was a formidable warrior. If she hadn’t wanted him to sleep next to her she could have gotten rid of him, especially in his drunken state. She hadn’t done that. In fact, Nebula had been cuddled up rather close to him when he had woken up. She hadn’t been drunk herself. Her nanintes prevented her from getting drunk. Which meant that she had been there willingly. 

All day long it seemed like Nebula was avoiding him so Thor waited until well into the evening to try and speak to her about it again. All the others had gone to sleep. He went to Nebula’s bunk to talk to her and she wasn’t there. He found her down in the cargo area where Quill had hung a punching bag and she was hitting it again and again. 

“Can’t sleep?” he asked her. 

“Not yet,” she said, hitting the bag again. 

“I hope that isn’t because your sleep was disturbed last night.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she all but hissed the words while she attacked the bag with more ferocity than before. 

Thor went over and got hold of the punching bag, getting her way as he did so. “Yes, you do. I was drunk last night and fell asleep in your bed. It would be within the realm of possibility that I could have forgotten the experience but not you. You remember and you are awake hours past the time when you normally go to bed. Why is that?” 

“Why are you keeping tabs on when I go to bed?” she replied, making an attempt at moving to the other side of the punching bag. Thor went with her, not letting her get in another blow without hitting him. 

“I’m not. Everyone here goes to sleep around the same time. The others have been asleep for hours. If you’re awake something is wrong. If it has nothing to do with last night, I’ll leave.” 

“Why would it have anything to do with last night?” 

“Maybe you don’t like sleeping alone. I don’t either.” he said simply. 

Her hands clenched into fists but Thor still blocked her access to the punching bag. In the absence of being able to hit something Nebula instead started to cry. Only a few tears slipped from her one unaltered eye. She brushed them away in anger but still said nothing in reply to Thor. She couldn’t even look at him. 

“You’re right. I really don’t want to be alone. It’s fine though. I’m just going to stay here until I get tired enough to sleep. It’s fine.” She finally said. 

“Or you could not be alone,” he offered. 

Nebula let out a breath and finally made herself look at him. “Are you drunk?” 

“No. No what would make you think I’m drunk?” Thor continued awkwardly. 

“If you’re sober, why would you offer...what exactly are you offering anyway?” 

“Nebula, I’m not drunk,” he reached over and brushed her new tears away with his hand and then let his hand rest on her shoulder. “Is it really that inconceivable that someone could care for you sober?” 

“I’m half machine,” she said after a moment. 

“I have a mechanical eye myself. Who knows, in time I could be half machine too. I don’t care about any of that. I am tired though so if you’re not coming with me I’ll need to find some ale or something to help me sleep.” 

Nebula nearly smiled. “No, don’t drink the ale. There’s no need.” 

And they went off together to keep from being alone.


End file.
